Iranian online casinos for Real Money

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. Gambling is illegal in Iran. You knew this already. The Islamic Republic of Iran has made gambling (virtually all forms of it) illegal under Iran’s Penal Code and Civil Code. 

Known as “maisir”, gambling is deemed unlawful. Iran bases its legal code on Sharia Law (or its interpretation of it), so gambling is out of the window. Leaving aside the theological aspects of this argument, we can also look at the societal aspects of the ban. Gambling is deemed addictive and sees bettors neglect their responsibilities to society. 

However you feel about that isn’t really relevant. The cold hard truth of the matter is that you won’t find any land-based gambling opportunities in the country. Moreover, even lotteries are not exempt from the blanket ban. Penalties for breaking the penal code can include up to six months in prison or even lashes.

As you might imagine, Iran’s stance on gambling rules out online betting, too. Despite the harshness of the laws, there is some wiggle room for internet bettors, and we’re here to tell you how. We wouldn’t want to test this theory, but the Iranian authorities aren’t that interested in prosecuting nationals who gamble online. Indeed, some Iranians have even gone on to gamble professionally across the world. It seems the country’s gambling laws don’t apply to them.

Admittedly, you won’t have everything your own way. The Iranian Government does instruct its ISPs (internet service providers) to crack down on foreign gambling sites, and Iranian banks will try to block transactions related to online gambling purposes. They can’t catch them all, though, it seems.

As touched on, gambling is officially a no-go in the Middle Eastern country. Because of this, there isn’t a single licensing or regulatory body at work in Iran. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Iranians can’t find somewhere to gamble online. There are all sorts of offshore operators out there which are prepared to provide gambling services to the masses.

Because of fear of reprisal, all Iranian online casinos are based offshore. This means that they aren’t located in Iran. They may be licensed and regulated out of Curacao, Panama, the Philippines – anywhere outside of the Muslim world, basically. Some of these casinos are happy to accept Iranian players who use VPNs (virtual private networks) to mask their locations and will go as far as accepting cryptocurrencies to help Iranians circumvent the banking and financial bans that are in place. Ultimately, there are sites that can help you if you really want to bet online.

The best way to avoid signing up for sub-par, untrustworthy sites is to choose one of our recommended Iranian offshore casinos. These have at least been vetted by our team to ensure fair play for Iranian players.

Gambling online is deemed something that the educated and intellectual community in Iran like to engage in, as is evident by the lack of Farsi and the widespread use of English at Iranian-facing casinos. Because of this, Iranian players tend to avoid games of chance like slot machines and roulette. Instead, they prefer games of skill, much like poker, baccarat, and blackjack. It is possible to play some live dealer games in Arabic if this language is spoken by Iranian bettors.

Ultimately, Iranians tend to favour skilled gambling games where they can assess their chances of success, gauge the mathematics and probability and decide for themselves whether something is worth the risk. They are some of the most “probability-conscious” gamblers you can find in any country. In a country where the punishment for betting is as severe as Iran’s, we can’t say that we blame them.

Iranian casinos aren’t just open to Iranians. Nor are these casinos the exclusive playthings of players from other Middle Eastern countries. Most of these offshore casinos are open to accepting players from many nations of the world. For this reason, they can often be played in various languages, with a plethora of payment methods and currencies up for grabs. Throw in an array of games that Iranians may not be used to, and they can make for interesting places to play.

To ensure that you only sign up and play at the most trusted offshore casinos catering to players in Iran, we recommend that you choose one of the casinos that we have vetted and that appears on our approved and recommended Iranian casinos list.